Christmas Traditions
by Galadriel Caskett
Summary: [MaLoki] It all started with one innocent, little, pathetically bare tree...
1. traditions

"... And what exactly, pray tell, is this?"

Narugami grinned unabashedly. "A Christmas tree!"

"So I see. More to the point, why is it _in my house_?" Loki lifted an ominously inquiring eyebrow at the thunder god.

The god-turned-student-cum-worker looked thoughtful for a second. "... 'Cause my apartment is too small for it?"

"... Ah." The trickster god eyed the innocuous-looking plant. "Narukami-kun, where did you get that?"

The teenager shrugged. "Boss gave it to me."

"Oh." Loki chose not to delve more deeply into the matter.

There was a silence as they contemplated the six-foot tree which was, at that moment, taking up a sizable portion of Loki's sitting room.

Suddenly, Narugami perked up. "We need decorations! Don't you or Megane have any lying around here?"

Pointedly, he reminded his fellow god, "We're _Norse_ gods, Narukami-kun. Why should we celebrate Christmas?"

"It's the _spirit_ of the whole thing, Loki!"

Loki resisted an urge to give a long-suffering sigh. "In answer to your question, then, no."

Narugami looked horrified at the very idea. "Not even one?"

"No."

Which, of course, was precisely the reason why Thor saw fit to drag him out to do some last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"Konnichiwa!"

Yamino appeared in the doorway, wearing a frilly apron and holding a mixing bowl. "Good day to you too, Mayura-san." He smiled cordially at the girl, who was flushed from the cold.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Yamino-san!" she fairly sang. "Is Loki-kun at home?"

He shook his head apologetically. "I'm afraid not, Mayura-san."

"Oh." She looked crestfallen.

At her dejected expression, he hastened to offer, "Would you like some hot chocolate while you wait for Loki-sama?"

Mayura cheered up instantly. "Thank you so much, Yamino-san! I'll be in the sitting room, ne?" And with that, she whirled and trotted into the house.

Yamino watched her for a while, then shook his head good-naturedly as he headed back into the kitchen. _That girl is just so **volatile**._

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**_  
_

After having been jostled rudely for the tenth time, the pint-sized Norse god of Fire and Chaos decided that he had had enough. "Narukami-kun."

Thor didn't answer, presumably due to the deafening music which was contributing to Loki's growing headache.

He tried again. "Narukami-kun!"

This time, his captor _did_ respond. "Yeah, Loki-?" He yelled back over the din.

Loki did a swift calculation of the possibility of getting his desire to return-to-his-mansion-**_NOW_** across to Narugami, over the overwhelming racket around them, and sighed in defeat.

He pointed at a nearby restroom.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

There was a blood-curdling scream from the general direction of the sitting room.

Yamino jumped, and turned to see Mayura barreling into the kitchen. "Wha..."

She gave him a scandalized glare, and leveled an accusatory finger at him. "How _could_ you, Yamino-san?"

"How could I what?" The human-snake was becoming decidedly confused.

"Leave that poor tree like that, of course!"

"Leave that... Oh." Yamino blinked, then recovered his composure. "Umm... You see, Mayura-san..."

She clapped her hands together in sudden comprehension. "You don't have decorations, do you?"

"Ahh... Actually... no, we don't." He smiled nervously.

She frowned thoughtfully. "Mou! How could a child like Loki-kun not have a proper tree for Christmas?" She brightened. "I know! I'll go get some from my house!"

And without further ado, she ran back out of the kitchen, and a moment later, out of the gate. The sound of metal clanging against metal resounded within the yard as she made her flurried exit, the gate riveting loudly shut behind her.

Fenrir raised his head off the floor, where he had lain sleeping peacefully. Blearily, he asked his younger brother, "... The mystery girl?"

Yamino nodded dumbly, still in shock.

"Oh." The black puppy curled up again, and immediately began to snore softly.

Jormungand blinked twice rapidly, then replaced the unopened cocoa tin carefully on the shelf, chuckling to himself. _Volatile, indeed._

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**_  
_

A stunning young man, clad in a red overcoat and black pants, strode out of the restroom, and smiled in satisfaction as the crowds literally _parted_ to allow him passage.

"Much better."

His companion looked questioningly at him. "Why did you turn back into your kakusei form?"

He glanced scathingly at Thor. "_You_ weren't the one being trampled upon because you were too short to be seen."

"It's not _my _fault that you came out in chibi form."

"It's _your_ fault that I had to come out in the first place."

Narugami grunted as Loki bestowed a devastating smile upon a group of girls in the corner, who promptly swooned. "... I _hate_ going out with you when you're in your true form."

The trickster god shrugged noncommittally. "Too bad."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Yamino cleared his throat, and ventured tentatively, "... Mayura-san?"

There was a muffled reply from behind a veritable mountain of tinsel and baubles and lights. A mountain which ended in two legs, and which was standing on their front porch.

He reached out to help her with some of the... stuff she was carrying. Relieved of a part of the weight, she smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you, Yamino-san!"

"You're welcome. And, err... What do we do with...?" He gestured vaguely at the decorations with a motion of his head.

Her smile grew even wider. "We decorate the tree with them!"

"... I see."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Loki wore an insufferably smug smile.

Thor muttered something about fawning fan-girls under his breath, his arms filled with bags.

Seemingly impervious to the thunder god's disgruntlement, he persisted, "Those saleswomen were such _nice_ people, weren't they?" He grinned angelically at his companion.

A tic started in his jaw, and the scowl Narugami gave his friend just then could have melted stone into a puddle of cringing lava. "You can stop rubbing your popularity with females in _any_ time now, Loki."

The trickster god only laughed as they continued their way back home.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Yamino dumped the load in his arms neatly in a corner of the sitting room. Behind him, Mayura did the same, although not quite so tidily.

She surveyed the mess with a satisfied smile. "Yamino-san?"

"Yes?" He looked curiously at her.

"Could I have that cup of hot chocolate now, please?"

He blinked in confusion. "We aren't going to start decorating the tree?"

She winked at him. "Tree decoration is supposed to be done with the whole family, Yamino-san!"

He blinked again, before a slow smile of understanding stole over his features. "Right away, Mayura-san."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Loki stared at the extra pair of shoes in his doorway.

"Welcome home, Loki-sama."

He lifted a quizzical look to his son. "Mayura's here?"

Yamino nodded, then added, "She's brought some things with her, as well."

"... Things." Somehow, that sounded terribly daunting.

His son reassured him, "Nothing dangerous, Loki-sama."

He relaxed, and smiled. "That's good to hear. What sort of things?"

There was an innocent edge to Yamino's words. "Tree decorations, Loki-sama."

At that, Thor snorted behind Loki, aghast. "You mean we _didn't_ have to go out, after all?"

The trickster god gave Narugami a very deliberate sort of look. "If my memory serves me right - and I would like to point out that, excusing inebriation, I have yet to be proven false on any matter of recollection - _you _were the one who insisted on going out to purchase decorations so that we could adorn that tree of _yours_ with trinkets, Narukami-kun."

Before the thunder god could defend himself, though, there was an eager pattering of feet down the corridor. "Yamino-san? Is Loki-kun home?"

Just in time, Loki shape-shifted back into a child.

Mayura glowed with delight at the sight of him. "Merry Christmas Eve, Loki-kun! Merry Christmas Eve, Narugami-kun!"

He smiled easily back at her. "Same to you, Mayura."

Narugami merely mumbled something intelligible.

She skidded to a halt at the sight of the bags in their hands. "You went out to get decorations, too?"

Loki nodded.

"Yamino-san! Why didn't you _tell_ me?" She rounded on the World Serpent, eyes blazing with righteous indignation.

"You didn't exactly give me an opportunity to, Mayura-san."

She thought for a while, obviously trying to find fault with that argument.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "How's the decorating going, Mayura?"

Her good humor immediately restored, she took his hand and pulled him insistently to the sitting room. "I brought _lots_!"

"You mean, you _haven't_ started decorating?" He took in his sitting room in a single glance. "... I guess not."

She looked at him as though he had sprouted another head. "Of course not!"

He lifted an eyebrow.

Yamino leaned in close to Loki, and explained in a low whisper, "Mayura-san said that tree decoration is meant to be done with the whole family, Loki-sama."

The four-foot god considered that for a moment, then smiled indulgently. "I guess even Mayura has her moments of perceptiveness, after all. Well? Where's the rest of our family?"

Yamino's eyes twinkled, and he turned. "I'll get Nii-san and Ecchan up straight away, Loki-sama."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"Daidouji, the damn lights just went out again!" Narugami looked as though he was on the very _verge_ of reaching for Mjollnir, and wreaking some much-deserved havoc on the string of rebelling Christmas lights.

"Change the bulb, then."

He glared murder at his classmate. "And _which_ one?"

Mayura pondered that question for a heartbeat, then smiled brightly. "Try all of them?" she offered helpfully.

He stared at her in disbelief.

Loki, in the mean time, was attempting to hang tinsel on the tree's branches. An effort which was being systematically defeated by the fact that he was - at the moment - four feet tall, while the tree was six.

"Allow me, Loki-sama."

He turned to regard his younger son with relief. "Thank you, Yamino-kun."

"You're welcome, Loki-sama." Yamino took the glittery material from his father's hand and wrapped its remainder around the tree.

Having done that, they both looked appraisingly at the war-zone that was their living room.

Fenrir was tackling the tree repeatedly with a bauble in his mouth, evidently _refusing_ to believe that a mere six-foot fir tree could _possibly_ overcome the great wolf which had struck terror into the hearts of the Aesir.

Ecchan was hovering around the area, looking longingly upon the spectacle, since Loki had expressly forbidden her from joining in. (While Mayura normally didn't have much in the way of critical skills, he felt it would stretch even _her_ credulity if she should see a Christmas decoration floating in mid-air. Or maybe it wouldn't... Which would be, quite possibly, infinitely worse.)

The girl herself was sitting on the floor, helping Thor with the massive task of figuring out which bulb had blown... again.

After a short silence, Loki mused, "Well, Mayura was right about _one_ thing."

"Loki-sama?"

He grinned wryly at the human-snake. "Tree decoration _is _meant to be done with the whole family."

They looked at the others, wrestling with the surprisingly challenging job of decorating a single tree, again.

"Indeed, Loki-sama."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"There." Mayura sat proudly back, scrutinizing their handiwork.

Loki decided that he had never seen such a badly decorated tree in his life. Even given the fact that he _hadn't_ seen many Christmas trees in his life.

While the various trimmings which hung on its heavily weighted branches were standard enough for the most part - some seemed rather... exotic, and were courtesy of none other than Mayura - they were distributed unevenly, with most of them hanging haphazardly on the lowest branches. (Fenrir had eventually given up, and decided to make do as best as he could.)

The lights, for their part, were blinking in an erratic fashion. Thor was staring unnervingly at them, his hand resting lightly on Mjollnir, as though _daring_ them to do anything otherwise.

Hell, forgetting all that, the entire _tree_ was skewed to one side.

Still, the deed was done, and Loki breathed a quick sigh of gratitude for that.

Mayura chirped happily as she bounded up, "Now that that's finished, it's time to make cookies!"

"... Why?"

She looked askance at his lack of common sense. "Because it's a Christmas tradition!"

"... Ah."

She pouted petulantly. "Aren't you going to help me?"

Loki shrugged. "You can handle it, can't you?" He watched her flounce out of the room, miffed. _Where that girl gets her energy from, I'll never know._

"Loki-tama..."

He turned his head to look at Ecchan, who was looking guilty. "Yes?"

She produced a golden star from behind a cushion, and Yamino exclaimed triumphantly, "I _knew_ something was missing!"

The shikigami smiled uncertainly at Loki. "May I, Loki-tama?"

He smiled back at her, and waved his hand. Trilling with joy, she sped up to the very top of the tree and placed it reverently on the fir.

And Loki decided that he was also quite content with having that same tree in his sitting room, badly decorated or no.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

That evening found them all snuggled into the cushions of Loki's darkened living room, warm in front of the fire, and stuffed on cookies.

He was lounging in his customary armchair, Fenrir curled up in his lap and Ecchan resting on his head.

Yamino was sitting just in front of the fireplace, knees to chin, apparently enjoying its warmth.

Thor had pillowed his head on a large cushion, and was emitting occasional snores in one corner.

Mayura, having constructed a sort of divan out of cushions against the side of his armchair, was propped up comfortably against it.

The drowsy silence which shrouded them was relaxed and familiar; replete.

As he watched the lights on their tree blinking tranquilly in the shadows, Loki reflected that maybe there **was** something going for the festival, after all.

He smiled.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_Authoress: There will be a second part to this, that I shall post on Christmas. :3 That one's slightly LokiMayu, although one may interpret it otherwise._

_Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok does not belong to me. _


	2. afterglow

They sat in silence for a while, till everyone else had dropped off.

Then, she began to hum. An old, simple melody, which was at once strangely soothing and oddly intimate.

"... What's that?"

She rested her head on the arm of his chair. "A lullaby Mama used to sing."

"Ah."

She sighed contentedly. "This feels nice... We used to put up a tree every year, too."

He let his hand slip down to her head in understanding. "Till your mother...?"

"Yep."

"And you still like Christmas?"

She nodded, the movement ruffling her hair against his fingers. "Christmas was Mama's favorite time of the year."

"... You're a peculiar girl, Mayura."

"I had lots of good memories with Mama during Christmas." She snuggled against his palm, and sighed again; whether it was in peace, or with regret, he could not tell.

Maybe it was the hushed surreality of the situation at the time which had loosened both their inhibitions.

"Loki-kun, remember you told me to ask you directly if I had any questions?"

"Mmm."

"Who are you?"

He smiled. "We've been through this before, Mayura."

He felt her shake her head slightly. Hesitantly, she asked, "Would you be angry with me if..." She bit her words off.

"If?"

She took a deep breath. "Remember the time we went to Koutarou-kun's lodge? When you rescued me from that bird?"

"Yes, I do. What about it?" He had a peculiar feeling that he knew what was coming.

"I... well... After you told me to go back first..."

His lips curved in rueful amusement as his hunch hit home. "You followed me, didn't you?"

She stiffened. "... You knew?"

"Mayura, you're as easy to read as an open book."

"Am _not_."

"And are we going to engage in juvenile banter, or will you get to the point?" He arched an eyebrow at the fire.

She hmphed, then continued. "... Your eyes glowed _red_, Loki-kun." She paused, then added, "As in, bright red. Not... not... naturally, Loki-kun."

"... Was that why you snooped in my study afterward?"

He looked down to see her flush guiltily. "Eh... About that... I'm sorry. I didn't really... mean to make you angry. I was just..."

"Scared?" he supplied.

She nodded, after a moment's hesitation.

He sighed. "Of what, Mayura?"

She was quiet for a while. Then, "... I'm not sure. I think... I sort of realized then that I really didn't know you as well as I thought I did."

He laughed softly at the understatement, and she pinkened. "Don't laugh! I'm being serious here!"

"That's a rare enough occurrence to merit me keeping quiet, yes," he agreed impishly, but complied.

"Mou... Anyway, I want to _know_. So, please?"

He fell silent, debating his options.

Twisting under his hand, she looked up at him hopefully. He looked down at her expectant face, and mentally consigned himself to whatever consequences would follow.

"I'm not human, Mayura."

Surprisingly enough, she didn't squeal her trademark "fushigi mystery!". Instead, she looked thoughtful. "So Yamino-san isn't either?"

"... No, he isn't."

"Oh."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as she mulled things over.

"Then... are you the man I met in your study the day you left?"

His voice was rich with amusement. "You managed to figure that out?"

She sounded put-out. "I'm not dumb, Loki-kun! The two of you are so much alike..." She stopped as something occurred to her. "That means that you're a god, right?"

He threaded his fingers through her pink hair. "I thought you didn't believe in gods."

"I didn't. Until Kami-sama... that is, Loki-kun... granted my wish."

"... I've wanted to ask. Why did you make that particular wish?"

She leaned her head against the side of his chair again, and he could _feel_ the glow of her smile, even though he couldn't see it. In a soft voice, she answered simply, "Because I didn't want to lose you, Loki-kun."

"... Ah."

Perhaps they might both have said more than that, had the Christmas lights not chosen to sputter in a final burst of light, then die unceremoniously, ending the moment.

She frowned at them. "Not _again!_" She started to rise before his hand stopped her firmly.

"Loki-kun?" She blinked confusedly.

Shushing her, he waved his hand at the tree. And a thousand tiny lights flared to life, dancing whimsically around the branches to cast slivery planes of illumination on the trinkets they had hung on it earlier.

He glanced at Mayura and grinned at the amazement he saw in her face. "How do you like my humble skills?"

She sank back down on the floor beside him, still gazing wonderingly at the display. Awed, she breathed, "It's beautiful... Like a fairy mist." Carefully, she laid her head back on the armrest and watched the pinpricks of effulgence floating around their tree.

His hand trailed down to her head again, and played with her long, silken hair, enjoying the way she seemed perfectly content to let him do so.

After a while, her drowsy voice drifted up to him. "Loki-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for not going away." Then, her breathing changed, deepening into a regular, steady rhythm.

He smiled softly as he watched the girl who had changed his very fates.

"Good night, Mayura."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_Authoress: Simply because I just couldn't pass up a chance to indulge my LokiMayura fangirl-ism. Also pointless, just like the first chapter. And, uhh, yeah... The similarity between the endings was deliberate. /shifty eyes/ Oh, yes. /nods absently/  
_

_I -might- make a sequel to this. Plot bunnies are multiplying! XD _

_And... MERRY CHRISTMAS to one and all! -showers confetti all round-  
_


End file.
